Classroom Talk

Chapter 6 in BCP was very interesting in term of the material and what I see within my own classroom. A variety of different assessments were demonstrated like a basic rubric, self evaluation, a "do" list, etc. All of these assessments were interesting in their own way but what really surprised my was what goes on in my classroom. My mentor has yet to set an assessment for any sort of literacy. I have asked her if I should start reading logs (because I am doing the Making Meaning program and that is apart of it) but she has told me not yet. With the chaos that school brings, I have yet to ask her why not. However, after reading about these assessments, I can see why my teacher has decided to forgo them at the moment. As I read the book and assessments were described more throughly, it made me understand that my teacher wants to simply focus on creating a classroom community. During our literacy, (especially during reading-to-self) students know what the expectations are but second graders are still learning about how to be students. It is important to teach kids how to act in school before they can learn about more specific goals.

This brought me to the next chapter about classroom management. There are so many different aspects to literacy, especially in elementary school, that it is very difficult to meet every students' needs as well as create a well-rounded classroom environment. Talking is one aspect that cannot go wrong in my opinion. It is so important to teach students how to properly communicate with one another while respecting each other's ideas. Book clubs provide student with the necessary opportunity that they need to become better readers and student members. One suggestion that was made that I found very interesting was to show a video or listen to an audio of a book club discussion. Book clubs are not yet created in my classroom so this piece of advice really stood out. Second graders are easily influenced and learn by example. Seeing how a book club should work first hand in my opinion, would be very beneficial. My teacher has done a great job modeling different strategies that we have been using in our class like read-to-self. The students not only created their own rules as a class but they were able to see how they should look while performing read-to-self. I think that too often we forget how important demonstrations are.

I would love to incorporate the Fishbowl Model. I have heard of using this technique but I have never actually seen it used. I think that it would be very interesting to see how the students do while under the close supervision of their peers. I love the idea of having students monitor one another but I do feel that a strong set of rules must be in place for both those within the fishbowl and outside of it. Students must understand what is proper criticism and what is just mean. I do worry that my ELL may suffer with this sort of dynamic. I believe that my mentor teacher, a strong community, and a great set of rules would be my main support if I do chose to incorporate this model into my classroom.